Page 16 of Forbidden

“King. God, Kahn. I can’t believe your father is the king of Gothe’mar! That you’re next in line to be king. This whole situation is ludicrous.” She would have laughed if she hadn’t already started to become aroused again. His cock was still inside her, causing the most delicious sensations to thrill her cunt once more.

He chuckled. “Being heir to the throne has its advantages.”

“Oh yeah?” Anna wiggled her hips to draw his attention to their joined bodies. “Like what?”

“If I were anyone other than the king’s firstborn son, I would be on duty, not in this bath making love to my woman.”

“Hm. And if you were king?”

He flashed her that wicked grin. “My woman would be making love to me instead.”

Anna laughed, feeling lighthearted for the first time in a long while. “I guess it really is good to be the king.”

Chapter Five

No matter what Kahn said, Anna wouldn’t leave Alex with someone while she sat before the tribunal. Both he and his father had offered assurances that the boy would be safe and that she would most definitely get him back immediately afterward but she wouldn’t budge. Kahn supposed he couldn’t blame her. She had said it would take time to trust him again. Trusting him with her son’s life was most definitely last on her list and that was as it should be.

Fortunately, the child was asleep when the time came for his mother to face the man she would speak out against, and Anna carefully made her way to the witness box. She shifted Alex so that he lay on her shoulder, and the child grunted at the movement but remained contentedly asleep.

“We understand that on Earth there are hearings such as this and that the witness against the accused swears to tell the truth before the court. Is this accurate and something you recognize as binding to you?” The king presided over all tribunals and he was the one to whom it fell to determine the accuracy of each witness’s testimony. One thing he had always told Kahn was to find out what held the word of each species that entered the witness box and make them swear to it.

“Yes, sir.”

“Then, by your rules of court, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

Anna blinked. Kahn could see the surprise on her face at hearing the familiar words. Then she smiled. “I do. Of course.”

When asked to relay her experiences during the war, Anna painted a gruesome picture. She described the tortures her people endured individually, and what she had seen at the death camps abandoned near the Front. She gave an account of the equipment found at one of these camps, and there was no way it could have been anything other than Gothe’maran in nature.

Mikkril looked at her impassively as she relayed her account. Try as he might, Kahn could not read the man’s intent in his expression. He could have been merely a spectator for all the emotion he gave away.

Kahn noticed her embrace tighten on Alex as she told how he and her husband had been slain. There were tears in her eyes and on her cheeks, but her voice was steady and sure. She never took her eyes off Mikkril.

When the representative of Gothe’mar was finished questioning her, Mikkril’s representative stepped forward. Kahn held his breath. This would not be pleasant. He just hoped Anna could control that temper of hers. He smiled. Then again…

?* * *

Anna didn’t know how in the world Alex had managed to sleep through the proceedings so far. Thank God he had though because she absolutely refused to let anyone else have him. Even for a second. She was so nervous, she just knew she’d wake him with her trembling.

Courage,tarae. I’m with you. Anna warmed at the encouragement from her lover.Lover!Man, she was in way over her head. His eyes were focused on her and she took courage from his words and his intimidating physical presence.

Gothe’maran courts were held in what looked like a very large cathedral. The “judge,” in this case the king, sat behind a very large desk to the left, and the accused sat in the middle of the stage. Each witness stood in a box facing both king and the accused. The “lawyers” moved around the space in between but were very careful not to obscure the view of the accused. From what Anna gathered, it was the right of the accused to not only face his accusers but to make them face him as well.

Now, it was Mikkril’s representative’s turn to question Anna. She had a feeling this wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Ms. Garrett, you say your world was not in a civil war. Is that correct?”

“Yes, it is.” Apparently, Mikkril was sticking to the story that he had been trying to save Earth from itself.

“Then can you explain the events just prior to the arrival of the Gothe’maran warriors?”

Anna frowned. “I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

The representative was a very tall man, almost as tall as Kahn, and he had obviously practiced using his height to intimidate. Anna was sure as hell intimidated.

He looked down his nose at her. “Do you expect the king to believe you can remember to the last detail the battle you just described but you cannot remember the effects of a nuclear blast on your own homeland?” He sneered.

A light dawned and Anna sat up a bit straighter. “I always assumed the Gothe’maran had set off that explosion. I think everyone on Earth did, too.”

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